August 7, 2010

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Some advice to help focus on the Taraweeh prayers

by Umm Muawiyah

Assalamu Alaikum.

You can’t understand Arabic, therefore you tend to snooze during Taraweeh? Yeah, I know. I’ve been there.

How can you focus on Taraweeh? Well, the best way is to learn Arabic. Of course, you might not manage that before this Ramadan so I’ll give you another way that might help you in your prayers, insha-Allah.

Firstly, do not use a mushaf (the Quran) if you are praying behind an Imam. It’s disliked. It’s not going to help anyway because you are trying to cure the symptom (losing focus in taraweeh) instead of the problem (not understanding the Quran).

Secondly, generally all the Imams following the same pattern: they complete about one juz every night. So, here’s what you have to do:

1) Read the translation of that juz ahead of time.

2) Summarize the main stories. For example, in Surah Al-Baqarah, it’s the three types of people followed by the story of Adam (alaihissalam). After this you get the story of Musa (alaihissalam) and Banu Israil, etc.

3) Write down all the NAMES that occur to help you remember the story. For example, in the story of Adam (alaihissalam), the names that occur are Adam and Iblees. So try to remember those. In the story of Musa (alaihissalam), and Banu Israil, Musa and Banu Israil are the names that occur. You can also remember other easy words like “Baqarah”.

Why would you want to do this? So that you can figure out what the Imam is saying.

When he recites something and you hear the word “Adam”, you know the story that he is talking about and so you can ponder over that.

When he recites something else and you hear “Musa” and then “Baqarah”, you know that he is reciting the story of Banu Israil being asked to sacrifice a cow.

When he recites another part and you hear “Sulaiman” and then “Haroot” and “Maroot”, you know the story here as well.

I mentioned names because they’re the easiest to remember.

You can keep that day’s summary with you and keep looking at it in between the prayers in order to see which story is next. You can also ask a person (who is praying near you) who understands the Quran to tell you where the Imam stopped.

I was sent this link, and thought I’d ask this – because I personally do use a mushaf while following along. It really helps me focus, and I don’t find myself dozing off. You say, its disliked. Does that mean its haram, makruh, etc or could potentially be disliked by the imam. And is it disliked because people with the mushaf correct the imam if he makes mistakes. Which I personally don’t do, there are people (usually behind the imam) with that responsibility.

I’d also advise you to ask a shaikh because perhaps there could be another opinion.

Personally, I’d advise you not to get into the habit of using a mushaf (when praying behind an imam) because then it will become a crutch.If you start learning Arabic, then it will really help you understand the Quran and will stop you from dozing off.

When the imam asks people to hold mushafs so that they can correct him, then that’s fine (I read a fatwa about this.)